Wang YuYan

Wang YuYan’s presence in these episodes is defined by absence: after separating from her, Duan Yu searches for her across Henan and filters his travels, conversations, and diversions through the hope of seeing her again. His longing gives her an outsized place in his attention, even when she is nowhere in the scene.

Identity and Context

Wang YuYan is closely associated with an exceptional knowledge of martial arts and weapons. Duan Yu thinks of her as able to recount martial arts in a way that surpasses practical demonstrations of fighting skill, just as Su XingHe’s intelligence and writing are said to compensate for his inability to hear and speak. The comparison places Wang’s expertise in the realm of knowledge and narration rather than combat: her command of martial arts is presented as something she can explain, not as evidence that she fights.

Parting and the Search

After Wang YuYan and her companions set out to search for Murong Fu, Duan Yu is left behind, in part because Bao BuTong resents his earlier disguise as Murong Fu. Wang is intent on finding her cousin and does not intervene in Duan Yu’s predicament. Duan Yu nevertheless follows north, reasoning that Henan is not the Murong family’s private territory and that he may travel there too.

The hoped-for reunion does not come quickly. For a whole month Duan Yu wanders through Henan, calling the journey sightseeing while actually scanning his surroundings for Wang YuYan. He hopes to catch sight of even a strand of her hair or a corner of her clothes; the scenery that supposedly justifies the trip receives none of his attention. The contrast makes the search less a shared journey than a private pursuit organized entirely around her possible appearance.

Longing in Conversation and Thought

Duan Yu’s preoccupation persists when he is with others. Zhu DanChen mistakes his sighing for sadness about Mu WanQing and suggests that a chess gathering with Su XingHe might distract him. Duan Yu agrees that chess could ease his worries, but immediately thinks that Wang YuYan, despite knowing martial arts and weapons, cannot play chess and would therefore have no reason to attend. His answer reveals how readily he turns an ordinary suggestion into a measure of whether it might bring him near her.

The same longing shapes his reflections on Buddhist teaching. While travelling, Duan Yu recalls the teaching that a beautiful body eventually becomes bone and dust, then imagines that even Wang YuYan’s bones would remain beautiful. The thought is an extravagant, comic extension of his devotion, not a sign that he has found her: the scene moves directly from his fantasy to the sound of approaching horses.

Narrative Significance

Wang YuYan is not present in these encounters, but Duan Yu’s fixation makes her absence an active force in the story. The repeated gap between his hope of meeting her and the failure of that hope turns travel into waiting, and ordinary conversation into an occasion for remembering her. Her martial-arts knowledge also connects her to Su XingHe’s chess gathering by contrast: Duan Yu can imagine her discussing martial arts, but not joining the game that others propose as a diversion.